u/Darel51

Going on two years of tilling up my grass lawn and planting creeping thyme (thymus serpyllum) and it is growing MASSIVELY. We are thrilled with this. It finally bloomed this year, from June all the way up to now (it's starting to fade now). We feel like we are singlehandedly saving the honeybee population.

So I've got a few questions for the alternative lawn types.

The thyme survived the winter just fine last year. I'm not worried about its' ability to survive. However it is getting quite thick and tall, to the point that some spots of it are so tall they weigh themselves down and look like bald spots even though it's just the thyme "laying down". I know this is a no-mow plant, but does it need to be trimmed back in the fall? Maybe stick some bicycle wheels on my lawn mower and just take a "little off the top"?
Thyme is drought-tolerant, and I now know why - because if you part the stalks even in the driest months it is an absolute swamp under there. The thickness of the thyme carpet locks all the moisture in and keeps the soil from drying out. Which is good, I suppose, but I have lost grass to fungus before because it was too damp. Is the thyme susceptible to mildew or fungus? I mean, it's creating this environment on its' own so I suppose not, but I would really hate to lose this entire beautiful yard to an infection. Are there any preventative measures I should take to prevent fungus? Or don't worry about it? I don't water it at all, and haven't since it started sprouting.

Hopefully pics come through. Taken this morning so it's starting to fade quite a bit now but it spent most of the summer as a vibrant, thick purple carpet swarming with honeybees and butterflies. Ignore the bridge construction in the background. :)

Thanks!

Disclaimer: My wife and I are still dealing with the aftermath of having our identities stolen two weeks ago by a scammer posing as our bank's (USAA) fraud alert department. They got into every account, ported our phone numbers to burners in Florida, and basically left us jumping every single time one of our phones dings. Using our numbers on the burners they changed every password on every account and were just running rampant for like 24 hours. At one point my wife was sitting there on the phone with Verizon (who conveniently don't have customer service lines that operate after hours) and her laptop up just deleting shit like iPads and sneakers out of her Doordash cart as they were adding them in.

So what I'm about to ask may seem weird, but honestly I am terrified and questioning everything.

Anyway, we've basically locked everything out, credit, bills, bank accounts. I kept one card (debit) to get by on while we ordered all new cards, and that one remains blocked unless I need to use it, then it immediately gets blocked again. And I even moved all the money out of that account and just transfer back what I need when I need it.

So I leave work at 3pm today (can't have my phone in work, secure area) and there's a notification from USAA, as well as an email and a text. Because it came through the USAA app I believe it, and there aren't any links or anything to click on so not suspicious. I called USAA's customer service line and as soon as it connects I get an incoming call. Odd, I thought, look at the phone, says its' spam, ignore. I get disconnected because cell service sucks here, connect to USAA again, another spam call from a different state at that exact moment. Now, part of the problem is USAA has restricted my accounts to investigate something it didn't like, so I end up having to call them back multiple times. Every single time, a spam missed call from a different state shows up on my phone. Not really ringing. Just shows up as a missed call, spam, from Washington or Texas or New York or Wisconsin.

I call my wife (multiple times), and nothing. No missed calls. She calls me back, no missed call.

I get a return call from USAA now, about three hours later, no missed call. I tell the lady what happened to us (getting scammed by someone pretending to be USAA Fraud), and because I don't trust incoming calls anymore I'm going to call back on the USAA customer service number and take care of what they needed me to take care of. I do that, hang up with her, call back on the USAA customer service line, and bam, missed call from Colorado.

I am already strung out like you wouldn't believe. I am a 50 year old man, I have been in the military (still am) for over 30 years. And I am fucking terrified. So now this constant missed-spam call every time I call my bank has me flying off the handle but I cannot for the life of me figure out how I am getting scammed with this, or what to do about it.

Can someone please tell me what these worthless sacks are doing, and how, so I can protect myself? I don't think I'll ever sleep again.

Winter care for creeping thyme lawn?

Every time I call my bank, I get a simultaneous incoming phone call?